


celestial bodies.

by marquis



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Astronomy, Drabble, Gen, M/M, barycenter, so short, ugh god i wanted to make this a thing but i have no time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2013-09-05
Packaged: 2017-12-25 17:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marquis/pseuds/marquis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>there's a concept in the study of celestial bodies; it's called the barycenter. the idea is that, even when a body is so large that it pulls other objects into an orbit - like the sun, really, trapping the earth and so many other objects into perpetually admiring it from afar - it is not completely unaffected.</p><p>(or, the one where louis could be the sun, except for the part where liam affects him, too.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	celestial bodies.

it's fun to watch them play their games sometimes.it's fun to watch liam turn away and smile to himself when he knows louis isn't paying attention, when he thinks no one else is. (harry always is, though, always sees.)

louis does the same thing in a different way, lets the expression fall from his face and looks at liam with such an open sincerity, honest vulnerability that harry just doesn't understand how liam can't notice. how he can think that louis wouldn't like to see him smiling, too.

there's a concept in the study of celestial bodies; it's called the barycenter. the idea is that, even when a body is so large that it pulls other objects into an orbit - like the sun, really, trapping the earth and so many other objects into perpetually admiring it from afar - it is not completely unaffected.

that is to say, the objects are not rotating around the sun. rather, they and the sun are both orbiting together, with the same amount of force, around a spot in the space between their centers. because of the sun's larger size, it doesn't have such a wide orbit around the barycenter; in fact, the imaginary point exists within its borders, between the core and the surface of its fiery composition.

they are both rotating, the only difference is just how large their orbits are, depending on mass and the resulting gravitational pull.

common fandom myth will tell all about how louis is the sun, how he holds them together and keeps them in orbit. he's in charge, and he shines so brightly that no one minds. this is true, when it comes to niall and zayn and even, most of the time, harry himself. he is not too proud to admit that he defers to louis for most anything.

this theory, though, falls short on liam. it assumes that he has very little affect on what louis does, how he behaves and what he chooses to dictate. it states that liam spends all of his time vying for the warmth and life that comes with louis' attention, and that louis is hardly even aware that liam is there, pulling on his center - his heart, if harry can get himself to ignore the absolute ridiculousness of the cliche - as well.

liam and louis are the leaders of the band, together. harry and zayn and niall rotate between two suns, locked forever and guided equally by both of them. that's how it feels, anyway, even when they are reminded over and over again that this band is the five of them, working together.

(it is, and he knows that. this is not an issue of self-esteem or importance; the band could not exist without any one of them, and a solar system is not a system without its planets and their life. this is a matter of influence,of the ability to lead and to affect everyone in their surroundings, and, using those parameters, louis and liam are far larger than life.)

harry watches as louis flies around the room, grabbing this and that before bounding back to liam, drawn in by him and his gravity. he watches liam go off to whisper to zayn or laugh with niall before always, _always_ returning to lou with a quieter sort of need, a fear that he'll be pulled in too close and burn up from the heat.

no, louis is not the sun. he is pluto and liam is charon, rotating almost equally around a point halfway between, constantly waiting for the one little shove that will force them to collide.

**Author's Note:**

> It should be noted that I am in a 100-level Astronomy class and have been for only one week thus far. Any errors are due to the fact that I know next to nothing about the subject, really, and I apologize for any astronomy buffs that this may or may not have offended. I do like the idea of incorporating what I learn about astronomy into my fic, though, because I like space? So this is going to be the first in a series of drabbles that I may update infrequently as the year goes on. They'll be episodic in nature, probably, and you won't have to read them all to understand the latest one. I'm too busy at the moment to write up an actual plot line.
> 
> Anyway, I've wanted to write something like this since my second day of class about a week ago, so here you go and I hope you enjoyed, even though it's hardly anything.


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